Knox in the News

From the Register-Mail:

Knox College will present a lecture Oct. 1 looking at the causes of the current recession and the changes that are likely and needed to prevent a recurrence. Entitled “The Great Recession - Two Perspectives” will feature two executives.

The speakers — William A. Longbrake, retired vice chairman of Washington Mutual Bank, and, John Lawler, controller, U.S. Marketing and Sales, Ford Motor Company — will share their personal experiences at two large national corporations that have seen the recession play out in very different ways.

Washington Mutual was one of the first banks, and the largest, to fail during the crisis, eventually merging into JP Morgan Chase. Ford Motor Company was the only U.S.-based automotive manufacturer to avoid bankruptcy during the recent financial crisis.

Longbrake and Lawler are members of Knox’s Business Advisory Council, which advises the college’s business and management program.

From the Register-Mail:

Knox College has been awarded a $50,000 grant to implement a program to increase the college completion rate of Latina women.

The SEMILLAS grant was awarded by Excelencia in Education, a non-profit organization that promotes success by Latinos in higher education. Knox College was one of only twenty colleges and universities - and the only national liberal arts college - from across the nation chosen to receive the award.

The new “Knox College Mother-Daughter Program” will develop activities for Latino mother-daughter teams in the Galesburg and Monmouth-Roseville School Districts. The activities are designed to raise awareness of and motivation to complete a college-preparatory curriculum while in high school, to attend college, and ultimately to pursue a career that requires a college degree.

“It is very exciting to see that not only is Knox one of just 20 schools to receive a grant, Knox is the only liberal arts college that was awarded a SEMILLAS grant,” said Xavier Romano, vice president for student development and dean of students at Knox. Romano and Tianna Cervantez, a 2008 Knox graduate and director of multicultural student advisement, will direct the program.

From WGIL radio:

Knox College is back on the road this week trying to avoid dropping three straight games to open the season, and the opponent is a good one.

The Prairie Fire (0-2, 0-1) line it up Saturday afternoon (1:00 p-m) at Ripon (1-1, 1-0). The Red Hawks are coming off a 35-7 victory to open Midwest Conference play against Lake Forest College. Ripon lost its season opener 40-16 against U-W Oskkosh.

Knox held at 17-7 halftime lead at the Knosher Bowl last Saturday against Illinois College. But the Blueboys’ passing game, behind Mitch Niekamp’s school record six touchdown passes, was too much for the Fire as I-C claimed a 42-24 victory after scoring 21 unanswered points. Niekamp finished the day 18-for-30 for 231 yards.

The Prairie Fire rushed for 292 yards as a team, led by Jonas Mack on 9 carries for 104 yards and Derek Mortensen, who rumbled his way from the fullback position for 92 yards on 13 carries, including two short touchdown runs.

From the Wilsonville Spokesman: (Wilsonville, OR)

Kimberly Hack of Wilsonville recently completed an internship with the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, Inc. based in Waitsfield, Vt.

Hack is a junior environmental studies major at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. She spent six weeks as a stewardship intern working on a variety of trail projects that improved waterside campsites, portage trails and access to launch sites.

She led a Waterway Work Trip on the Connecticut River in Vermont and was part of another work trip on the trail in Highgate. She had previous experience working on outdoor recreation projects with the Northwest Youth Corps.

The 740-mile NFCT is a canoe and kayak trail connecting lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and portage trails between the Adirondack Mountains of New York and Fort Kent, Maine.

From WGIL radio:

There were all kinds of pieces of art at an annual event Saturday in downtown Galesburg, but other than the work of one Galesburg man, none that could be made with a brush and a couple spray cans of Rustoleum.

Greg Leibach is from the St. Louis area but came to Galesburg to attend Knox College where he later graduated, and is now an art teacher at Lombard Middle School. He was one of around 50 different people displaying their art at Saturday’s “Art in the Park” at Standish Park in downtown Galesburg. Leibach uses spray paint to create various types of portraits, working with them, in many cases, like one would work with normal paint.

Leibach tells WGIL he learned how to work with spray paint about five years ago, and almost gave up as soon as he started. “It’s very frustrating to try and manage the paint, and paintings can go wrong in a hurry,” Leibach said. “But, now that I’ve got five years under my belt, It’s a little smoother. I’m used to the process. I’m really comfortable working with the paint, and now I love it. You can make brilliantly-colored paintings in such a fast way.”

Leibach drew quite a crowd when making one of his creations yesterday morning, applauding his work when it was done. Leibach tells WGIL he uses spray paint in his art classes at Lombard, but not to this degree.

Also from the Register-Mail:

Dressed in a baseball hat, gym shorts, T-shirt and tennis shoes, Greg Leibach looks more like he’s heading to the gym than an art fair. But the paint on his shorts provides a hint. At the far end of Standish Park, a small crowd gathers around Leibach. A gas mask covers his face as he sprays bright paint onto a thin canvas. Beside him are other examples of his work, a tropical beach, the St. Louis skyline at dusk, sparkling stars of outer space — all created with spray paint.

Leibach adds tiny birds to the mountain sunset he’s working on using a folded piece of cardboard dripping with black paint. He quickly signs his name and holds up the finished painting as the crowd erupts into applause.

“It’s always more fun to paint in front of a crowd,” 23-year-old Leibach said. “It’s more exciting, especially if it’s for the first time with people who have never seen it before.”

Leibach, a 2008 graduate of Knox College and Lombard Middle School art teacher, started creating paintings with spray paint after seeing another artist use it while on vacation in San Diego.

“I like the fact that you can make a full painting really fast and everyone can sit and watch,” he said.

From the Register-Mail:

Kelly Ricketts, a sophomore from Galesburg, has been named Knox College Prairie Fire Performer of the Week after being named to the Illinois College Blue Brawl All-Tournament Team.

Ricketts, playing in her first tournament as a member of the Prairie Fire, led the team in kills (51 total, 12.75 per game average) and finished third on the team in digs (30 total, 7.5 per game average) in the four game tournament, as she was the only Knox player honored on the all-tournament team.

More recently, Ricketts helped the Prairie Fire secure their second victory of the season Tuesday with a 3-0 win over MacMurray College.